After hanging skinning and cleaning your carcase. I find that a small propain torch worked over the carcase lightly and rapidly so as not to scorch the meat. Works very well at removeing those last stuburn hairs.

I also try to get the hind off as soon as posible. This is very crittical on lopes. The faster you get a prong horn cooled off the better the meat will be. I knew a guy that accualy took huge coolers in his truck. As soon as a lope was down he was hinded put in a cooler and covered in ice. Sure made for good lope meat.

My friend in Pennsylvania saw a man about to throw away a lot of pumpkins instead he asked for them , loaded his p/u with them and took them home.He scattered them on a hillside field alongside of his new mtn home.We watched the whitetails coming into the area to feed on the pumpkins,one deer started to feed on a pumpkin was butted it away then it retaliated getting the pumpkin back. When you kill a deer save the rumen ,wash & dry the contents then check to see what the deer had been feeding on.Locating those plant sources will put one in touch with deer faster.! let my friends read all of the tech manuals that I gathered ,while earning my degree in wildlife mgt, on game food habits prior to their hunts in the Kaibab of Arizona.It helped them locate the feeding areas in fact when one friend stepped on a twig in a ceanothus patch a whole bunch of deer heads popped up.

MM, Got to agree with you on the antelope. Every body told me that it was just awful eating. Being non resident on our first antelope hunt this year we skinned and boned the on the prairie and iced at the truck. This meat is excellent. I've never tasted it any other way but i's far better than we expected. RD

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Thomas Jefferson

My friend in Pennsylvania saw a man about to throw away a lot of pumpkins instead he asked for them , loaded his p/u with them and took them home.He scattered them on a hillside field alongside of his new mtn home.We watched the whitetails coming into the area to feed on the pumpkins,one deer started to feed on a pumpkin was butted it away then it retaliated getting the pumpkin back. When you kill a deer save the rumen ,wash & dry the contents then check to see what the deer had been feeding on.Locating those plant sources will put one in touch with deer faster.! let my friends read all of the tech manuals that I gathered ,while earning my degree in wildlife mgt, on game food habits prior to their hunts in the Kaibab of Arizona.It helped them locate the feeding areas in fact when one friend stepped on a twig in a ceanothus patch a whole bunch of deer heads popped up.

When I first saw this in the Cabela's catalogue I didn't think much of it. After using it all last season (owned by someone else), I went and bought two. One to keep at each lease. Makes taking the ailimentery canal a snap. Best thing I've used in a long time. Just poke it in till it won't go any more, give it a half twist and pull everything out. Much easier than using a knife.

Also,For a city boy, I get to do a fair amount of skinning. I go to my lease monthly at least. There I have the opportunity to hunt varmints which include ravens, bobcats, coons, fox, coyotes, badgers, ringtail cats, aramdillos javelina, and hogs. Hunt turkey in the spring and fall and dove in the fall. Not counting that, our deer season lasts about 2 months and one week I
usually am able to hunt about 30 days during that period. In Texas we can take 5 whitetail deer per tag and unlimited exotics such as audad and other type of sheep, axis, fallow and sika deer. I also hunt with nine other guys on one lease and four other on the second. Conseqently, as I said, I have the opportunity to do a fair amount of skinning. Here are some of the tools I use.

Startin at bottom left, RMEF Buck Skinner. This knife has more depth than I normally like. I hesitated to use it, but once I did, wow. Gerber take off the Wyoming knife. I like this because it doesn't have the second blade on the backside that I always nick myself with on a wyoming knife. Makes easy work of opening up hides in a jif.Victoronix/Forschner boning knife. Great for opening up the hide on front legs. Works pretty good as a skinner. Flexible and sharp as hell.Knifes of alaska "yukon belt knife" This is a take off of the old canadian belt knife. This one is in d-2 steel which is one of my favorite knife steels. The shape is perfect for skinning and caping. Until I started using the buck skinner, this was my favorite skinner for several years.Cold steel outdoorsman. This is an excellent heavier knife for reaching down inside the chest cavity and cutting out the lungs and connecting tissue. It also works well at splitting brisket as you can get two hands on it.Top is the knives of alaska bone saw. Works great for splitting brisket and cutting ribs off backbone, and splitting pelvis. However, if you are in a hurry, a battery operated sawzall works pretty darn good too.GWB

I seen those Butt out tools advertised and thought it was just a gimmick but other guys seem to swear buy it. One problem i have when gutting is trying to remove the piss bag but they say if you remove the anal then the bladder should just come right out because as hunters we all know how the meat will get tainted if urine gets on it.

Gary

If you can sue McDonalds for getting you fat then why can't you sue the alcohol companies for all the ugly people you ended up sleeping with?
Penticton, B.C. Canada

My friend in Pennsylvania saw a man about to throw away a lot of pumpkins instead he asked for them , loaded his p/u with them and took them home.He scattered them on a hillside field alongside of his new mtn home.We watched the whitetails coming into the area to feed on the pumpkins,one deer started to feed on a pumpkin was butted it away then it retaliated getting the pumpkin back. When you kill a deer save the rumen ,wash & dry the contents then check to see what the deer had been feeding on.Locating those plant sources will put one in touch with deer faster.! let my friends read all of the tech manuals that I gathered ,while earning my degree in wildlife mgt, on game food habits prior to their hunts in the Kaibab of Arizona.It helped them locate the feeding areas in fact when one friend stepped on a twig in a ceanothus patch a whole bunch of deer heads popped up.

24,

Are you a Lumberjack?

No just remembered everything I learned at the Univ of AZ even though I never worked in the field of my degree I was a peace officer for 38 years where I made a lot more money than a biologist.

when dragging a deer out by the legs, the hair can seem slippery and cause you to lose your grip more often than you care to have happen. we came across a good remedy for this during this season, and once we tried it, we had one of those slap-your-forehead-well, duh! moments!

take the same black electrician's tape that you probably used to strap the tag onto the antlers or back leg, and make a few wraps around the front legs. the grip is dramatically improved and you won't be dropping it every few yards, stopping to switch hands because your dragging hand is cramping up etc. even if you don't use tape for your tagging, it doesn't hurt to ahve a roll of this stuff in your pocket ~ many uses!

For years those were made in Western Pa 35 years ago by a guy that invented it. Only problem is the drag portion of the rope is too short, so you are standing on your heels trying to pull. I added a longer rope to mine and my sons. they work great at distribuitng the weight across your back and chest.

They are now selling some knock offs, including a double strap model, it just doesn't work...too small in all diemensions, and the drag rope is still to short.

when draging deer dont have people with the attention span of a goldfish helping you it takes two hours longer than it should. ill admit i have the attention span of a goldfish thats how i ended up caving in the left fender of my moms car(beer wasnt involved thats what makes it worse) but im serious and get a different attention span when im hunting....i upgrade to a squirrel

I dress and chill as quick as possible all game animals....especially birds.I discovered the freezing of whole quarters maybe 20 years ago. Just fire up the bandsaw and set the fence for the thickness you want, perfect steaks every time! I've never had meat last for more then a few months in my freezers so freezer burn has never been an issue.....come to think of it, I only have a few birds left and only a handful of steaks now.

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